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Pac-12 announces women's basketball players of the week

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - The Pac-12 Conference office announced today the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Players of the Week for the week of Feb. 24-March 2. STANFORD’s Chiney Ogwumike was voted the Pac-12 Player of the Week for a Conference-record ninth time, while OREGON STATE’S Sydney Wiese is the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for a second time this season.

Senior forward Chiney Ogwumike (Cypress, Texas) closed out her Senior Weekend in memorable fashion, scoring a career-high 37 points in Saturday night’s 84-64 victory over Washington State. The performance capped a weekend in which Ogwumike averaged 34.5 points and 12.0 rebounds while shooting 60.9 percent from the field over wins against Washington and the Cougars. The national player of the year candidate posted double-doubles in each game, bringing her season total to 22, and registered her 12th and 13th 30-point performances of the season as the now-14-time defending Pac-12 Champion Cardinal finished the regular season 28-2 and 17-1 in conference play. Ogwumike heads into postseason play just 49 points away from tying the Pac-12 scoring record having scored 2,580 points, already owns the league’s all-time rebounding mark at 1,483 and is one away from tying for 10th on the NCAA’s all-time list. It is Ogwumike’s Pac-12-record 18th-career weekly nod and Stanford’s 99th all-time.

A guard from Phoenix, Ariz., Sydney Wiese is the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week for the second time this season but first since earning the honor on Jan. 13. She averaged 14.5 points in two games last week, going 10-for-21 from the field (.476) and 9-for-17 from long range for an impressive .529 shooting percentage. Wiese helped the Beavers to two crucial victories over the weekend that included a 66-43 upset of then-No. 20 Arizona State, securing the No. 3 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament, the program’s highest ever seed in the 13 years of the event. Tied for second place in the standings, it is the team’s best showing since finishing in second place in 1995-96. Wiese scored 15 points in the win over ASU, going 5-for-10 from the floor, all attempts coming from long range. This season, she has netted 94 threes, the third-most made in a season in Pac-12 history.

A player of the week has been selected every week since 1986-87, the first year the Conference sponsored women’s sports. A freshman of the week was first selected in 2012-13.

All 12 league teams are headed to the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament in Seattle. While Stanford and Oregon State have secured first-round byes, the event tips off on Thursday, March 6 and runs through Sunday, March 9 at KeyArena. All 11 games of the tournament will be nationally televised, with the first 10 broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks and the title game airing on ESPN.